Hot Docs 2012: ‘Meet the Fokkens’ offers a charming, unusual personal narrative
Meet the Fokkens Written by Gabrielle Provaas and Rob Schröder Directed by Gabrielle Provaas Netherlands, 2011 There is a long tradition in documentary film of…
Hot Docs 2012: ‘The Ambassador’ a brave, darkly funny exposé
The Ambassador Written by Mads Brügger and Maja Jul Larsen Directed by Mads Brügger Denmark, 2011 As strange as it might sound to some people,…
Hot Docs 2012: ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry’ overshadowed by its subject
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Written by Alison Klayman Directed by Alison Klayman USA, 2012 A good documentary requires a good subject but can sometimes be…
TIFF 2011: Joe Berlinger talks about the West Memphis Three, ‘Paradise Lost 3′ and the story that has spanned his entire career
Seminal documentarian Joe Berlinger has made a career out of defining and disseminating stories that are as engaging and poignant as they are obsure. Every…
Documentary Filmmakers 2011 Interview Series #2: Jay Cheel, Director of ‘Beauty Day’
With Hot Docs underway in just a few days, our Toronto correspondent Mike Waldman speaks with Jay Cheel, the writer-director of Beauty Day, which chronicles…
Hot Docs 2011: ‘Beauty Day’ more than just a story about the original Jackass
Beauty Day Directed by Jay Cheel 2011, Canada Most of the best documentary films are about outsiders, about people and events that exist within our…
Documentary Filmmakers 2011 Interview Series #1 – Lee Demarbre, Director of Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero
Over the coming weeks, as a lead up the Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto, Sound On Sight will be publishing a series of exclusive…
MMA: A Great Sport in Need of a Great Documentary
Mixed Martial Arts, in its current inception, is a sport. When it began 20 years ago, it wasn’t. Not because it was more violent, which…
3 Great Narrative Docs You Might Not Have Seen
The popularity of a documentary film is often based on word-of-mouth. Very few docs get a wide release (or a theatrical release at all, for…
‘Crazy Love’: Caught Between Art and Trash
Crazy Love Directed by Dan Klores Fisher Stevens (co-director) I will freely admit to having a particular fondness for upsetting documentaries. I’m intrigued by first-person…
Chasing Mr. Brainwash: The Final Word on “Exit Through the Gift Shop”
No film has ever generated the type of controversy enjoyed by Exit Through the Gift Shop; the film’s notoriety is literally unique. While many…
Mohammed Ali: The Greatest (documentary subject) Ever
Very few people have had a great movie made about them. Fewer still have been the subject of a great documentary, mostly because docs about…
